A story in the Beyond the Wall of Sleep Universe Part of Gothic Horror Challenge
New Orleans used to be a city of elegance and beauty. It's all gone now, and instead of laissez les bons temps rouler, I get the leftovers from a Cold War era gulag. Except sometimes, I see things. Hear things too. A brass band leading a funeral procession. A whiff of magnolia. The whisper of live oaks draped in Spanish moss. I don't know what's real anymore. And I can't get out.
My husband is gone and I need a fresh start. There's homesteads in the Oklahoma Territory free for the taking if I can hold on to it. All I need to do is set my stake and live there for five years. Problem is, a no-account scalawag of a man has his eye on the same claim. And on me. I need to get rid of him, but when we set our stakes at the same time, things get a lot more complicated.
